Fantasy sports: It's time to honor baseball's best

My apologies to the larger community of fantasy football players out there, but I must leave your sport for one week to satisfy the baseball contingent and wrap up their year that was.

Or I just need to do this so that I have a chance to gloat that I won my league. See, there may be a reason to read this column after all.

Alright, maybe there isn't as much reason to read this specific one so much, since it includes no advice. Rather, here are my choices for the three big awards from this past fantasy season.

Rookie of Year: Yasiel Puig, Dodgers

Talk about coming out of nowhere, Puig is even from Cuba.

His name was bandied about a little in the preseason as an emerging talent, but that mild interest faded when he did not start the season with the big league club. In 40 games with Double-A Chattanooga, though, Puig hit .313 with 8 homers, 37 RBIs and 13 steals, necessitating a call-up.

He played his first game with L.A. on June 3, and caused debate before the month was over whether he had played enough to deserve All-Star consideration.

That's what happens when you end your first month in the majors batting .436 with 7 homers, 16 RBIs, 4 steals, a .467 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage.

By the end of the season, it turned out that Puig was human, or at least a little less superhuman. He finished with a .319 average, 19 homers, 42 RBIs, 11 steals and a .925 OBPS, in only 382 at-bats.

It will be interesting to see where Puig fits into our calculations next season, and whether his torrid June or his mild September, when he hit .214, carry more weight when determining his draft status.

For the season that was, however, he came in and immediately changed a fantasy's team's fortune, allowing an owner to demote his worst outfielder and getting a boost from someone who only required a waiver-wire pickup.

Cy Young: Max Scherzer, Tigers

I uncovered a memory when trying to determine this honor. Unfortunately, it is still a murky one, so I cannot properly attribute it. I do recall, however, reading a preseason prediction that placed Scherzer among the top few pitchers in the fantasy game.

Sure, the one-time can't-miss prospect was finally going to put it together and become an elite talent at the age of 29. A season later, and that statement stands, just with its sarcasm removed.

It wasn't that Scherzer was ever a bad pick, he was a definite top 100 selection going into the season, but who could have imagined he would set career marks in innings pitched (214.1), wins (21), strikeouts (240), WHIP (0.97) and ERA (2.90). That is outdoing even the most optimistic of projections.

What makes that extreme improvement even better is the consistency with which Scherzer did it; apparently one has to be consistently good to finish with a 21-3 record.

Scherzer started the season with a couple hiccups, only coming out of April with a 4.02 ERA, but three wins (ironically coming in his three worst performances of the month) and 46 strikeouts still made him quite acceptable.

He posted a 3.00 ERA through May, though, with four more wins and then did not have another month where he went over 3.00, finishing with that 2.90 (see chart).

A pitcher a fantasy owner can count on like that every five days is a luxury, and an even bigger one when you didn't necessarily expect him to be your ace.

MVP: Chris Davis, Orioles

First, I must offer my apologies to Miguel Cabrera. Yes, Miggy, you are still clearly the top player in fantasy baseball. You followed your Triple Crown season by again winning the American League batting title (.348), and finishing second in home runs (44) and RBIs (137). You should be the top pick in everyone's draft next year.

You just were the top pick in most drafts this year, too, so there is only so much value in getting what you pay for.

Davis, however, is the player who topped Cabrera in homers (53) and RBIs (138) and his average draft position was only 150 on ESPN.com. After hitting .270 in 2011 with 33 homers and 85 RBIs, Davis may have already been a draft steal at that position. His power explosion combined with a new career-high .286 batting average, however, is the stuff fantasy MVPs are made of.

That also means he will not be able to win the award next year, though, when any draft slippage would place him only in the second round.

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